


In sickness and in health (because that's how it goes, right?)

by crownheartsteacup



Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Sick Louis, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-08 16:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownheartsteacup/pseuds/crownheartsteacup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick is not the best at taking care of people. And that's why he doesn't really know what to do when he returns home from doing his breakfast show to find Louis on his sofa, coughing and clutching a box of tissues, curled up under what looks like the duvet from Nick's bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In sickness and in health (because that's how it goes, right?)

**Author's Note:**

> A friend of mine asked for some fluffy Tomlinshaw with one of them having a cold... And since it went nice with [this](http://soundingawkward.livejournal.com/11809.html?thread=32545#t32545) prompt at the wonderful Tomlinshaw fication I decided to put it up here to share with you guys.

Nick is not the best at taking care of people. He's a gratuitous host at parties, always making sure his guests have a drink in their hands, a place to either sit or dance and usually even makes sure to call them a cab when it's time to go or makes sure there's space on his sofa, if not in the guest bed.

But taking care of people outside of that? Not so much his strong suit. He loves having his nieces and nephews around, loves goofing around with them or having them over for a few days and sure, he makes sure they're properly fed and everything. But he never has them over when they are sick or even a little unwell, leaves them with their parents and promises to make it up when they are back on their feet again. When Aimee gets sick, he usually either drives her over to Ian's place or calls him over to take care of her.

And that's why he doesn't really know what to do when he returns home from doing his breakfast show to find Louis on his sofa, coughing and clutching a box of tissues, curled up under what looks like the duvet from Nick's bed. He knew Louis was coming back today, knows his boyfriend has a week off now. And they had both been looking forward to that, to the hot monkey sex all over the place and the closeness and just being with each other, but looking at the miserable state Louis seems to be in, he now doubts that will happen.

Louis had mentioned "feeling a little under the weather" a few times in the last week and Nick suddenly feels bad about not really believing him, now that he sees it with his own eyes.

"You look like shit, love", he says in greeting, stepping over to the sofa and running a hand through Louis' hair. Or at least pushes the few strands aside from where they peek out of the beanie he's wearing. Louis usually doesn't wear beanies around the house (or pretty much anything aside from sweats and some shirts he steals from Nick's wardrobe), and Nick somehow doesn't know if it's endearing or worrisome.

Louis just laughs at that but quickly stops when it turns into a painful sounding cough. “Not funny, Nick. It’s just a cold anyway”, he mumbles between two deep breaths and weakly pushes a hand against Nick’s chest.

“Yeah, not funny. You belong in bed, babe, not on the couch”, Nick scolds him gently, pushing the beanie off Louis’ head to tangle his fingers into Louis’ hair and scratch his head gently. “My poor love. Have you been waiting here long?”

Louis shakes his head and sinks back into the plush seat of the sofa. “Wanted to be here when you get home, not sleeping in the bed, so I’ve been sitting here for maybe half an hour?”, he offers and Nick just smiles back gently.

“Off to bed you go then. You need sleep, Louis, we had plans for this week”, Nick reminds him with a wink. “And I need you in top form for all that fucking. So go to bed and sleep it off, yeah?” He leans in and presses a kiss to the top of Louis’ head.

Louis nods weakly, still clutching the box of tissues, but shuffles off the sofa and drags the blankets along to the bedroom where Nick can see him curl up beneath them once more, pressing his face into his pillow.

Nick hesitates for only a moment but he needs to at least make sure Louis is comfortable, so he follows him to the bedroom and straightens the blankets a little, presses a soft kiss to Louis’ cheek. “Get better soon, yeah? And let me know if I can do anything for you.”

Louis nods and grabs one of Nick’s hands to squeeze it gently. “Sorry for ruining your plans. I know we should be probably going at it in the kitchen or something by now, according to your plans.”

Nick chuckles. “Yeah, something like that. But it’s not your fault. Just sleep, baby.” He moves the hand Louis is not holding to gently scratch the younger one’s scalp again until he drifts off. Then, after tucking the blankets around him once more, he silently leaves the room and closes the door behind himself.

He decides to let Louis sleep for as long as he wants, chooses to take care of his bills and a bit of paperwork that he left lying around instead of doing it when it occurred and when he looks at his watch again, it’s four hours later and there still hasn’t been any sign of Louis reappearing from his nap.

Nick sets the paperwork aside again and carefully slips into the bedroom again, smiling a little at Louis, who’s curled up even more in bed, his face mushed into the pillow and clutching Nick’s pillow to his chest instead of the tissue box. And while Louis usually is a really silent sleeper, snuffling a little in his sleep from time to time at most, right now he’s downright snoring. It’s not loud or anything, just these tiny little snores and Nick is pretty sure he can see a spot of drool on the corner of Louis’ mouth. He’s very sure he shouldn’t find that adorable, but somehow he really does.

As silently as he can, Nick sneaks over to the bed and places his hand against Louis’ forehead to check his temperature, like he’s seen on TV so many times (and like his mother had done when Nick was little) and he’s no expert but it doesn’t feel different than usual, so Nick is pretty confident that Louis at least hasn’t got a fever.

With a soft snort the snoring stops and Louis’ eyes flutter open at Nick’s touch. He blinks up at Nick very tiredly, before simply reaching up to tug at Nick’s hand. “Stay”, he rasps out and his voice sounds even more horrible than it did before his nap.

Nick actually isn’t a big fan of cuddling with sick people because he ends up being sick himself afterwards, or at least he did that one time he took care of his sick sister. So yeah, not really his thing. But when Louis looks at him like that he really can’t say no. So he says “Just let me get you some tea for your throat first, yeah?” and runs a hand through Louis’ hair, gently scratching him behind his ear.

Louis nods and gives him that really, really pathetic look. “Hurts”, he mumbles, pointing at his throat and Nick nods in sympathy.

“I know, love. Want me to stir some honey into your tea?”, he offers and smiles at the little nod he gets from Louis. He leans down to kiss his forehead, then pulls his hand out of the younger one’s hold and disappears to the kitchen to brew some tea, just as he promised.

While he waits for the water to boil he sends a quick text to Harry, scolding him for not taking care so Louis got sick, only realizing afterwards that he sounds like a parent when he says that instead of like a boyfriend so he adds another text telling him that he and Louis had plans and going into a little too much detail.

“Didn’t need to know that, you perv. Take care of Lou though! x” Harry only texts back, apparently not really shocked at Nick’s detailed description of the blowjob he’d planned on giving.

Nick smiles as he stirs the honey into Louis’ tea, texting his mother with the other hand and asking her for the recipe for chicken broth. Because he still he remembers that his mum’s chicken broth always made him feel better when he was sick and somewhere between Louis giving him that pathetic look and offering to make tea for him, Nick has decided to take care of Louis.

Since his mother usually takes her time to text back, Nick carefully carries the cup back to the bedroom, only to find Louis curled up even more. He runs a gentle hand through his hair and then slips under the covers as well, on his side of the bed and leaning up against the headboard. Louis just pushes Nick’s pillow onto the older one’s lap and then moves a little so he can drape himself over it.

Chuckling, Nick plays with the soft hair at the base of Louis’ neck and lowers the cup of the so the steam is slowly warming Louis’ face until the younger one blinks his eyes open once more.

“Here you go, some tea, with honey. And then you’re gonna nap some more, okay? Want me to get you some Aspirin or something?” He helps Louis sit up and lean against his shoulder while he sips as his tea, waits for Louis to empty the cup half-way before he asks the question again.

This time, Louis actually reacts with a nod, but doesn’t make a move to get off Nick’s lap.

“You have to get off my lap, babe. I’m sorry, but I can’t get you your medicine otherwise.” He ruffles Louis’ hair affectionately and gently taps the tip of his nose. “Just drink up and I promise I’ll hurry back, okay? I want you to get better.”

Nick think it’s kind of obvious that he doesn’t really know how to deal with sick people, but he hopes Louis doesn’t actually notices how rubbish he actually is at this.

Reluctantly, Louis slides off Nick’s lap and takes his pillow with him to cuddle, so Nick can slip out of bed again to get him some pills from the bathroom and check his phone for an answer from his mother.

Instead of a recipe, though, he finds three concerned texts from his mother, the first one asking if he’s okay, the second one asking if he’s sick and if she could come to London or if Aimee could prepare the soup for him and the third one finally simply asking why he needs the recipe.

“Louis is here for the week and he’s got a cold. Wanted to do something good for him”, Nick sends back as he picks up the little box of pills and gets a glass of water to swallow it down.

Of course it takes his mother only seconds to respond this time because she fucking adores Louis, ever since Nick introduced them and Louis was all shy and incredibly polite around her. 

"Really? Poor Louis. Go out and buy some chicken at the butcher, preferably boiling hen, some greens and then call me, I'll walk you through it."

Nick rolls his eyes, but sends a quick "will do, thanks!" back anyway, already on his way back to Louis. 

Said boy is still curled up in bed, hanging on to Nick's pillow. He looks up when Nick returns to the bedroom and shuffles a little to the side to make space for his boyfriend before curling up to him again as soon as Nick sits back, flopping back over his lap. 

"Poor Lou", Nick coos and runs his fingers through Louis' hair again. "Come on, take your pill and sleep a little."

Louis nods and lets himself be pulled upright once more so he can take his medicine before sinking back into his nest of blankets and pillows, tugging lightly at Nick's wrist to get him to lie down as well. 

And since Nick really does feel sorry for him, he does, curls himself around Louis' back and tucks him against his chest. He presses a soft kiss to the back of Louis' neck and gently rubs his stomach. "Go to sleep love. Otherwise I'll have to sing you to sleep and you don't want that, do you?"

Louis laughs a little at that, but only for a moment before he starts coughing again. He lets out a weak groan and cuddles back into Nick even more and croaks out a soft "Sorry." His voice sounds even worse than when he croaked out his first apology, so Nick just makes a soothing noise and kisses his neck again.

"Don't worry. Just sleep." Nick rocks him a little, earning a weak giggle before Louis yawns and pulls Nick's arm around him even tighter. 

They stay curled up like this for a while longer until Nick is sure Louis is out like a light. Then he carefully worms out of bed, tucks the covers around him and kisses his forehead before sneaking out of the room. Quickly, he puts on shoes and a jacket and leaves for the store to get everything his mother instructed. 

It takes him a little longer than expected to get everything and to make it even worse it seems like Louis had woken up in the meantime, because Nick returns to his flat to find Louis once again curled up on the sofa beneath the blankets from bed, this time holding a cup of tea, pouting Nick as soon as he's through the door. 

Nick rushes over and presses a kiss to the top of Louis' head. "What are you doing up, Lou?", he asks gently and puts the shopping bags down next to the sofa to sit down next to Louis' hip and sneak his hand under the blankets to pet his stomach and chest. 

"Woke up and you were gone, so I had to get up myself to make some tea", Louis explains with a hoarse voice and lifts his cup in demonstration, hot tea nearly sloshing over the edges while he stares at Nick accusingly. "Where did you go anyway?"

"I went out and shagged a fit boy since my boyfriend is sick and out of order, what do you think?" Nick asks back and rolls his eyes, pointing to the bags. "I went shopping because I'm going to make you some soup", he explains when Louis just huffs and doesn't look amused. "Sorry I didn't leave you a note, I thought it would only take like... Five minutes. Took a little longer though, because I couldn't get everything I need at the Tesco down the street."

Louis squints at him for a moment longer and Nick guesses it's because of a certain lack of glasses and contact lenses and not because Louis doesn't believe him. "You wanted to make soup for me? And not just from a can?", he asks and Nick nods. Suddenly he's not so sure it was a good idea. 

"Uh, yeah? I thought it would be good to get some food in ya and your throat is aching, so I thought soup might be good? Sorry, I'm rubbish at this. You'd probably be better off at Harry's, I suck at taking care of sick people..", he rambles on until suddenly Louis is right in his face nuzzling his cheek and pressing a kiss to it. 

"Best boyfriend", he mumbles and that really surprises Nick, because he has a lapful of sweater-clad snuggling boy and that can be somewhat distracting. 

Nick blinks, kind of surprised and smiles when Louis just lets out a happy little huff and nuzzles his face against his neck. 

"Are you trying to pass your germs off to me as revenge?" Nick asks carefully, making Louis only cuddle in closer, shaking his head. 

Gently, Nick rubs Louis' back for a moment with one hand, using the other to cradle his head, then presses a kiss to the top of it. "Why are you suddenly so happy I left you alone? Are you delirious? Do you have a fever?", he asks, his thumb brushing over Louis' cheek. 

Louis chuckles and immediately coughs once more, leaning into Nick's touch. "You want to make me a soup. From scratch. Nobody but my mum ever did that for me", he explains, wrapping his arms a little closer around Nick. "So you're the best boyfriend ever", he rasps, the "obviously" heavily implied. 

Nick smiles and rearranges Louis so he's sitting a little more comfortable. "Want to sit here while I cook?", he offers but Louis shakes his head.

"Kitchen", he mumbles and Nick nods. 

"Only if you put like... woollen socks on or something. You need to keep warm feet and your aversion to socks in combination with the tiles on the kitchen floor won't help with that", Nick tells him, already pulling at the blanket to put it around Louis like a cape. 

"Don't have any", Louis rasps backs and Nick chuckles at that.

"I'll give you some of mine then", he answers and smiles fondly at the face Louis pulls at that. "Come on, up you go. I have to start cooking and will get you some socks."

It doesn't take them very long to get Louis settled to his and Nick's satisfaction, a pair of socks on Louis' feet that is obviously too big for him, but very warm because Nick's nan only used the best and thickest yarn for her grandchildren. 

Nick has his mum on the phone and chatters at her while following her instructions on how to prepare the soup, cutting and boiling and putting in a little salt, tasting from time to time, adding the little alphabet shaped noodles for Louis with a cheeky grin, earning himself a slap to the ass when he passes him. 

When he's done he says bye to his mum, passes the phone over to Louis who demands to thank her personally as well and starts preparing a bowl of soup for Louis. He keeps his back to Louis and listens to him talking on the phone, making sure that Louis can't sneak up on him while he arranges the letter shaped noodles along the edge of the bowl so they spell out "I LOVE YOU..." on the top half and "...R COCK" on the lower one, destroying a few of the noodles with a spoon so he can make the dots. When he's done, he calls out a "Mum, he has to take care of his voice now and hang up and eat his soup" so Louis can say goodbye to Aileen before Nick places the bowl in front of him. 

It only takes Louis a few seconds to spot the message Nick left him and he starts giggling immediately, breaking out into another coughing-fit. "Are you trying to kill me? I knew you were being too nice with the soup and everything", he wheezes out and swats at Nick, who just catches his hand and grins at him. 

"Come on, eat your soup, Lou. And then we can watch The Voice on telly while you use me as a pillow again", he reprimands gently and squeezes Louis' hand gently. 

Louis actually does as he's been told once the coughing stops and when they're curled up together on the sofa afterwards, he softly thanks Nick for the soup and tells him that his throat already feels better. Nick just smiles and hugs him a little tighter, happy that he apparently isn't failing as horribly as he thought beforehand.

It takes him three more days to nurse Louis back to health but when the younger one declares himself completely recovered upon waking, they start making up for lost time pretty quickly. And if Nick still is a little more careful and gentle with Louis, then nobody has to know, right?

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love some feedback since english isn't my first language. Let me know if I got something wrong or just if you enjoyed it, anything.


End file.
